These hearty vegan lentil bowls feature roasted veggies, crunchy cashews, creamy avocado, and flavor-packed Moroccan-spiced lentils piled over rice or your favorite grain. They’re delicious, incredibly satisfying, and perfect for meal prep.
These lentil bowls are my new go-to weeknight meal-prep dinner. It makes perfect sense! Vegan bowls are amazing for prepping ahead since every component stores beautifully on its own. And lentils? They’re a vegan’s BFF: cheap, hearty, delicious, and endlessly accommodating.
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There are about a million ways to season lentils, but I always come back to Moroccan-inspired spices thanks to my love affair with harira. This blend is warm, fragrant, and seriously flavorful, and it creates a saucy lentil mixture that’s rich enough to serve as its own “dressing.” No extra sauce required, which is great news when you’re assembling bowls on a busy night.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Brown rice. The recipe calls for brown rice, but you can really use any variety of rice, or another grain.
- Lentils. We're using brown lentils, which are generally the most common variety. They might just be labeled as "lentils" at the store. Other types of lentils will work, but you'll need to adjust the cook time.
- Veggies. We're roasting carrots and broccoli for our bowls, but feel free to swap them out with your favorites. Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green beans, sweet potato, beets, zucchini, and bell peppers are a few options that would work well.
- Olive oil. You could swap this out with another high-heat oil, like avocado or canola, if you'd like.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Ginger.
- Spices. We're using a blend of ground cumin, cinnamon, paprika, turmeric, and black pepper. You can get them all in the spice aisle of just about any grocery store.
- Tomato sauce.
- Avocado.
- Cashews. I love cashews with the flavor and texture combo in these bowls, but you can really use just about any nut. Got a nut allergy? Try pepitas or sunflower seeds.
- Herbs. We'll be topping our bowls with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and parsley.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Cook the rice. Brown rice takes a while to cook, so make sure you get it started before anything else.
Step 2: Get ready. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Step 3: Cook the lentils. Simply place them in a pot with water and boil them until they're almost fully cooked. Leave them a touch al dente. Drain the water from the pot when they're done.
Steps 4 & 5: Roast the vegetables. Start with the carrots. Rub them with olive oil and place them into the oven. After ten minutes, add the broccoli to the baking sheet, giving it a little oil rub as well.
Step 6: Cook the onion. Heat some olive oil in a skillet, then add diced onion. Cook it for a few minutes, until it softens and just barely starts to brown.
Step 7: Add spices and aromatics. Stir in minced garlic, grated ginger, and all of your spices. Cook the mixture for about a minute, stirring to prevent anything from burning.
Step 8: Simmer the lentils. Add your cooked lentils to the skillet, along with the tomato sauce. Simmer the mixture for a few minutes to thicken the sauce. Season the mixture with some salt and pepper to taste when it's done.
Step 9: Assemble and serve. To assemble your bowls, start with a bed of cooked rice. Top the rice with the roasted veggies and lentils, followed by avocado slices, cashews, and chopped fresh cilantro and parsley.
Variations
- Switch up the veggies. Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green beans, sweet potato, beets, zucchini, and bell peppers are a few options that would work well in this recipe.
- Swap out the grain. You can use just about any variety of rice, or another type of grain like quinoa, millet, or farro.
- Add some sweetness. Stir some dried fruit into the lentil mixture, such as raisins or chopped dried apricots. This will give the lentils an even stronger Moroccan vibe!
- Tahini drizzle. Top your bowls with some thinned tahini or my tahini dressing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — there are no gluten-containing ingredients in this recipe.
The recipe makes big, hearty portions, so decreasing the portion size would be the easiest way. You could also omit or cut down on the avocado and cashews, and the oil can be cut down to one full tablespoon (use a teaspoon for each veggie, and one more for the onion).
You certainly can! You'll need about 3 cups, or just short of two 15-ounce cans.
If you've assembled the bowls, store each individual portion in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. If not, store the components in separate containers and assemble the bowls just before serving (this is how you make this a meal-prep meal!). The avocado is the only ingredient that doesn't keep great — it will turn brown, but still be perfectly edible. If possible, cut the avocado just before serving.
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Moroccan-Spiced Lentil Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brown rice (or grain of choice)
- 1 ¼ cups dried brown lentils
- 12 ounces carrots (about 3 carrots), halved, then cut into 1-inch sections
- 1 medium broccoli crown, broken into florets (about 4 cups)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (14 ounce/397 gram) can tomato sauce
- 1 medium avocado, sliced
- ⅔ cup roasted and salted cashews
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Begin cooking the rice (or grain of choice) according to the package directions.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the lentils into a small saucepan and cover them with a couple inches of water. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and cook the lentils until they're almost done, but just a touch firm at their centers. Drain the water from the pot when they're done.
- While the lentils cook, roast the veggies. First, arrange the carrots on the baking sheet and rub them with a tablespoon of the olive oil. Place them in the oven for 10 minutes.
- While the carrots roast, prep the broccoli by tossing the florets with a tablespoon of the olive oil. After ten minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and add the broccoli to the sheet with the carrots. Return the sheet to the oven and continue roasting the vegetables for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender and browned in spots. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
- Coat the bottom of a medium skillet with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the onion. Cook the onion for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until it softens and just starts to brown around the edges.
- Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, turmeric, and black pepper. Cook the mixture for about a minute, stirring constantly, until very fragrant.
- Stir in the lentils and tomato sauce. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it cook for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly, but not so long that the lentils get mushy. Remove the skillet from heat and season the mixture with salt to taste.
- To assemble, divide the rice among five large bowls, then arrange the roasted vegetables and lentils over the rice. Top each bowl with a few avocado slices, cashews, and a sprinkle of each cilantro and parsley. Serve.
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Cool blog.